======= 54 - One Dead General ==========
A commander out of action always meant that it was time to retreat: troops don't act on their own, and soldiers can't properly assess the battlefield and take emergency measures. But if the commander is wounded, it means he is incompetent! At least, that was the conclusion General Shu came to as he rode his lizard and covered the open wound in his stomach, from which rivers of blood were flowing. Thinking over the situation, he gritted his teeth and couldn't understand how he could have been tricked like that. Earth mages rarely ambushed their own, and if they did, what could they do? Throw a pebble? He had been fooled by the fact that the Avatar was so strong, and therefore assumed it would be a head-on battle! After all, that was how the strongest usually fought. But here, not only was the attack unexpected, it was also swift — the enemy hit every soldier running with him, and it would have been fine if he had just thrown a stone, but it was a sharp crystal, a real weapon in skilled hands.
Realising that he would never make it to his target unit with such a wound, the General raised his hand and ordered his men to stop. No one was pursuing them, so once they were on the ground, he ordered his men to take the first aid kits from their animals and quickly treat themselves and stop the bleeding.
"Remember what happened to those who didn't pull the crystal out of themselves in the last battle? They all died horrible deaths, so we need to get rid of it quickly," said the elite squad, taking tweezers and a pair of knives and beginning to operate on themselves. The rain, as luck would have it, only made things worse and slowed down the process, but it wasn't difficult to light a fire and cover themselves with their own monitor lizards.
"Damn, it's stuck fast.
"I can't get it out...
"Hey, what's going on? My hand is stuck!
However, the more time passed, the worse it got for all of them. At first, their breathing worsened and, for some reason, their thinking slowed down. Then the slightly panicked soldiers realised that the foreign object was impossible to pull out, as if it had grown inside them. And then, a thin crystalline crust began to appear on someone's hands and feet, the limbs went numb and stopped moving.
"Damn, I feel terrible," one man crouched down and coughed up blood. However, he noticed that mixed in with the blood were small, sharp crystals that continued to grow on the ground simply from contact with the blood. "Ah... Ah... Ah...!"
Collapsing on his stiff legs and falling straight onto his crystal-covered hands, the man broke apart, shattering into countless crystals and pieces of flesh. And the same thing happened to everyone: the General, sitting in one place, silently watched as his soldiers began to roll on the ground, then run until their legs froze in one position. Others simply lay there and turned into one large crystal right before his eyes, a scene straight out of the most terrifying dreams.
"Sand Mage... if you planned all this, then the rumours of your cunning and cruelty were an understatement. We must urgently... report to the Lord of Fire...
With a barely moving hand, he reached for the letter and picked up the pen. With a calm expression, though sometimes contorted with pain, he wrote a few letters until his fingers went numb and became covered with a crust of blue crystal. His muscles didn't work, seemingly frozen as well. His organs shut down one by one.
"Zhao, if you met him more than once but somehow managed to survive, then you are definitely my best student. But he is too great a threat... The Master is in danger," he finished, and finally, there was not a single person left in the clearing. Everyone turned into beautiful, lifelike statues, frozen in unique poses and displaying the last emotions they had shown on their faces. Horror, fear, and pain.
***
"I'm back~" A sweet voice echoed through the cosy room, and Tai Li appeared in front of me, sitting on a stone sofa, with several juicy watermelons. "I thought you might want something sweet."
"Thank you," said a hoarse voice, causing Katara, who was sitting next to me, to frown. She took some fresh water and once again wrapped my neck and arms in the healing liquid, while Tai Li began to feed me with a spoon... It felt like I had started a harem. But no, we were "celebrating" the end of the battle in our own fortress, from where we could slip away at any moment and continue our journey. The only problem was my serious injuries, which needed to be treated as soon as possible. Looking at my hands, there were unpleasant marks, like traces of lightning. My collarbone and the area around my neck also took on a similar colour, like a tattoo of branches, except that it was ugly and very painful. In fact, my whole body ached, which I hadn't felt even when I accidentally blew up a sphere of sand around me and realised the full beauty of electrons piercing the body. Real lightning is much more dangerous...
It was a great opportunity to think about my future — I could no longer rely on movement, magic didn't flow through my limbs, and all the tricks I knew were blocked. Kioshi's fighting style, the movements of the water, earth, fire and nomad mages — I could forget about all that. No, I didn't say that I would remain a cripple forever, who would be fed with a spoon. I could see a way to regain all my chakras and start feeling more alive than anyone else — a source at the North Pole that could restore even a broken spine or degraded qi. I knew about it not only from cartoons, but also from books I had read in the library about its miraculous healing properties, which would be extremely useful. But that wasn't enough! I needed a replacement for my useless limbs, and a very radical one. I'm talking about control over my own qi. I won't argue that I had been doing nothing but developing it for some time, but without movements, tricks and fanfares, I could only show half of my peak strength, if not less. I needed to regain my former power.
And here's the question: would I be stronger if my limbs were intact? If I not only had good control, but could also move normally. And the answer... It's debatable. All limbs perform the same function as bare control, it's just that now the magic is released from other points of chi that are not connected to the arms and legs. The problem is more in the sensory system... I can't even see with my hands now. I can touch things with my knee or elbow, for example, but that's just weird.
I urgently needed to develop a way to see my surroundings without touching the ground, understand how to fight lightning, and adapt Kio's style so that I could reproduce it without even moving a finger. The indirect loss of limbs is nothing more than an incredible new stimulus that will propel me back to my former pedestal of power. Although... the people around me are still in shock that I can control magic without making any movements.
"You're the strangest mage I've ever seen," said Aang, who had sat down next to me, poking a lump of dirt flying around me with his fingers. "Maybe even the strongest... Dagoth, if we can help you in any way, just let us know."
"Exactly, I, for example, can teach you how to fight in close combat. Just saying," Sokka flexed his muscles.
"I only want one thing. For you, Aang, to remember Laghima's legacy regarding the fifth chakra. And the rest of you... just keep training and doing your own thing," my words sounded sadder than I intended. Everyone looked down, becoming somewhat unpleasant, and only one creature understood me correctly: Momo. Sitting down next to a watermelon cut into pieces, he handed one to me, "From the heart."
Then I had to quickly finish my business. After meeting with Roach and ignoring his words about injuries, gratitude, and so on, I asked him to leave quickly. It didn't matter where, I just wanted to rejoin the army and continue developing my magic — maybe it would come in handy again someday, and I would decide to use it to kill him in secret. The guy was sincerely grateful for my help and became even more attached to me, then left with his squad without any fuss. Yes, someone died after that battle, but everyone who could be saved was put back on their feet, for which the guys were sincerely grateful. And I could use that gratitude in the future.
To prevent the enemy soldiers from taking advantage of the fortress, I also had to return it to the ground. And since I couldn't move, it looked a little... extravagant. The walls literally parodied dominoes, breaking under my gaze, and the ceilings collapsed and returned to the ground. Not even dust rose, as I had pressed it down first. And when the usual clearing appeared before us again, I exhaled and turned to the guys sitting on App, whose eyes had rolled back into their heads.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," I said, stepping forward with my hands behind my back. I only had time to pull myself off the ground, fly up to the saddle and settle on it when a little animal materialised in front of me, out of thin air. It quickly caught the attention of those around us, looked around, and when it saw me, it quickly wagged its tail.
"Dagot! Afka has returned from her trip! And she's not alone, she's brought gifts. A bunch of scrolls with the seal of the water mages fell out of her bag. They could be very useful to us." "How are you? What happened to you?"
The red-haired fox immediately came over and began to examine me from all sides, even poking my hands with her snout.
"An unpleasant battle, nothing special. We just defeated the Army General," I said, raising my trembling hand and stroking the frozen fox.
"Sounds interesting. Fyur-fyur-fyur, you didn't kill anyone, did you?
I asked a joke, but I just stared intently into her eyes, making her squint. For a few seconds, we stared at each other intently until...
"No. Of course not.
"Fy-fy-fy... well, okay," she said, waving her tail, not noticing that she had fallen into Tai Lee's predatory arms, with whom she began to cuddle and play. She didn't even suspect me; she trusted me that much. But it wasn't just that. Even without magic, she could tell if I was lying or not, simply because we understood each other so well. And so she knew perfectly well that I was telling the truth. Personally, I hadn't killed anyone. Although I did feel a little uneasy, it was my first time after all...
"Hey, where are we going?" Aang snapped me out of my stupor and made me clear my throat.
"Good question...
"Choose: 1 - Fast and deadly (Find a high place and start training with Aang in airbending, using pure control. Wind is speed - you can learn to move objects faster with your magic and learn new tricks with sand magic. You will have the opportunity to learn how to reproduce Kioshi's style without movements) 2 - Heavy and accurate - (Find a wide open field and start practising throwing projectiles over long distances with Sokka, using pure control. The earth is power - you can relearn how to lift heavy objects and attack with them correctly. You will learn clever tricks for accuracy. You will have the opportunity to learn how to block lightning)3 - Adaptation (Find a river where you can practise and work on all the techniques from the scrolls brought by Afka, using pure control. Water is balance - you will begin to regain your strength evenly and gain a deeper understanding of the magic of dirt. You will have the opportunity to learn advanced sensory perception)
"Um... let's do everything at once," I said, raising my eager gaze to Aang, and realised that I would be driving the guys to death in the coming days.
========== 55 - Avatar's character ==========
It was difficult to accurately assess our speed compared to the unhurried original Avatar, but thanks to our joint efforts, the boy progressed much faster. I talked a little bit about his personality rather than magic, although in this world, they are two sides of the same coin. He had already matured a little and, most importantly, had begun to tell me the first pages of the text of Laghima. Yes, it was a miracle, but he remembered them, albeit slowly, as he had to meditate more than talk, but the knowledge had already begun to be transcribed into my notebook. In short... once upon a time, when people were friendlier — although I'm sure that wasn't the case — and tricks like taming animals were more common, people learned to combine sources of chi, mainly with those they loved. They became closer to the world, opening their souls to it... and that was it. Did that tell me anything? Not a damn thing. How do you do that? What does "combine" mean and what will it give me? There were no answers. Aang shrank from these questions and shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn't yet restored his patchy memory. And I don't think he will anytime soon...
Well, that wasn't really a problem, as one particular animal kept us entertained. Thanks to Afka, we weren't bored, and the fox became something of a celebrity, as most of the attention was focused on her: she would talk to Aang about the spirit world and how to properly communicate with creatures from there; then she would snort at Sokka, who didn't understand what other long-range weapon could be used; she would give Katara a couple of tips on how waterbenders should behave, and finally, she would simply study qi and chakras together with Ty Lee. The most useful fox in the world. But I shouldn't forget about my training. Finding a settlement with a river on the map, I was ready to hone my mudbending and master advanced sensory perception — whatever that meant.
"Oh, this place looks kind of... dreary," I said, flying over what, according to the map, should have been a forest, and my team and I blinked in confusion.
"Maybe we took a wrong turn?" Aang hoped.
"No... this scorched wasteland is the forest we were flying to," Sokka said grimly. Yes, we were flying over black trees, some of which were still burning. For a second, Ty Lee and I remembered the village we had encountered on Zhao's path, and the result was similar — there was no life here, only dark spirits, corpses of wild animals, and ashes. It was quite likely that this was where General Shu's army had passed through, which made it all the more surprising that the village in the middle of this scorched field remained intact, as far as that was possible. Surrounded by a stone fence, the settlement was either burnt down or had damaged buildings, but it had not fallen completely!
Landing in front of the gates of Senlin, which meant "forest" in translation, Aang clenched his teeth in helplessness.
"This is all my fault," he said, looking painfully at the black branches. "If I had stopped the war in time, all this could have been avoided. Although Dagoth is right — the past cannot be changed, so I must restore everything now.
My influence was very noticeable.
"Oh... Avatar! It's the Avatar!" But at that moment, someone distracted us. An old man's voice came from the village, and we saw an elderly man with a cane hobbling towards us with a look on his face as if he had seen hope. More people began to emerge from the houses, poor and sick, wounded and elderly, for whom our arrival was a real event.
"They recognised me so quickly?" Aang blinked in surprise. But he smiled when he realised he could help these suffering people. The old man walked past the bald boy and stopped in front of me.
"Mr. Avatar, I recognised you right away! Your face is on all the wanted posters in the Fire Nation," he said, and in an instant, silence fell. Katara and Aang stared blankly at me, and Sokka almost laughed. "Please, just listen to us. We know the rumours about you, but we're sure they're all nonsense. At least hear us out!"
"What does that mean? - Katara crossed her arms over her chest." "What rumours are circulating about the Avatar?
"Shh, not so loud! - The old man moved closer to the girl and almost covered her mouth." - Don't bring trouble to our village. We don't want him to get angry and wipe us out with a sandstorm, or worse, dry our bodies to the state of mummies," he looked back at us and smiled sweetly, lowering his voice even more, "To survive the Cruel Avatar, you have to bow down at his feet.
...I didn't have the strength to comment. Spreading rumours is not something I can influence. No, during my travels, I had the opportunity to surround myself with a noble aura a couple of times, but I didn't go for it, and now, it seems, it's time to regret it. A crowd gathered in front of us, knelt down and began to ask for help in dealing with the dark spirit that was terrorising their village, while the group behind us was in complete shock. It so happened that after the destruction of the forest, the spirit guardian of the village went mad and began to take revenge on all the people, which was why some of the buildings had been destroyed. Under the condemning and uncomprehending glances of the team, I quickly promised to help, to which the people simply began to bang their foreheads on the floor. Before I could say anything else, we were taken to the local "residence," where we were given the best room and immediately brought excellent food. My companions continued to stare silently, waiting for an answer to the unspoken question.
"Avatar?" Aang frowned, deeply offended.
"Cruel? - Katara began tapping her finger on the table.
"How could you...?" Sokka shook his head. "You had such cool stories, and you didn't tell us any of them? I thought we were friends!"
Bah*
Katara quickly gave her brother a water slap and demanded an explanation. Well, it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to give one, because these weren't just rumours... I really did dry out hundreds of people — even if they were just soldiers, I really did wipe out camps with sandstorms, but only to blind my enemies. And even if Afka could calmly confirm that I didn't touch civilians and didn't usually provoke conflicts, mostly defending those in need, I still couldn't downplay the cruelty. And the fact that I was considered the Avatar, not Aang, wasn't going anywhere.
"How could you ruin my image?! I'm supposed to inspire hope in people, not make them kneel before me in fear!" Aang said angrily.
"What's the problem? Once everyone finds out that I'm not the Avatar, all the rumours will quickly disappear. Just show them your mastery of the elements, and that's it.
"Except no one even knows what I look like! And your face is already on every poster!"
He was ready to tear his hair out from stress. The only problem was that he didn't have any. Sadly, this affected the relationship between Katara and Aang, who were slightly disappointed in my approach and the provocative cruelty I didn't hide. But it was a conscious choice. I understood that a "positive" image of a sandbender would attract people, but I pushed that aside, focusing on the practical benefits of a "negative" image. After all, that's what would allow me to set my own rules in the human world! Aang had not yet accepted the fact that I was going to push him into a corner, into the spirit world, and thought that this negative image in the eyes of people would somehow influence him.
That was the problem... I couldn't just tell him to forget about people, that I would do everything better. I needed a philosophy, but in order to convince Aang of it, I needed to have an exceptional relationship with him so that he would think only the best of me: what would happen now? If I started dictating a worldview that was completely opposite to Laghima's, he would go into denial. And knowing his luck, he would be beside himself with anger, so I had to smooth things over somehow. And this could be done through the girl he liked and a few others. But more about him later.
After a quick bite to eat, Aang went outside and set out to prove to people that he was, in fact, the Avatar. As for Katara... we headed to the river to practise water magic. The girl took the valuable scrolls, laid them out in order of difficulty, and quietly began to repeat the movements, standing with her back to me, as if demonstrating her resentment.
I needed something emotional to make her understand me. To touch on something we had in common. Hmm...
"Tell me, what's that amulet around your neck?" My calm voice startled her. Placing her hand on the blue talisman with the symbol of water attached to her choker, the girl turned around.
"...It's from my mother. The people of fire took her when I was still a child," she said, clenching her fists and summoning a powerful wave that caused the water to bubble.
"You know, I don't need to feel your chi to understand how much you lack it," she turned sharply and frowned unpleasantly.
"I don't want to go into details," she was about to shut me up to end the conversation, but I was quicker.
"That's why I'm so cruel. My image keeps some enemies from acting rashly, my reputation makes the Fire Lord think twice before attacking, and after meeting me, people resign. Eh... I just want to say — it's good that my posters are everywhere, so soldiers who see them know what problems they'll face if they see me on the battlefield. Imagine what would happen if they had the face of a cheerful boy with an arrow on his forehead?
"No one would be afraid," Katara replied in a deeply understanding tone, clutching her pendant more tightly. I knew how much resentment she harboured towards the Fire Nation, I knew how much she wanted revenge, and that's why my words struck a chord with her.
"Exactly. But it's okay to instil fear in those you want to stop. What would you do to someone who took your mother away?
"I would... I would kill him... I don't know," she clenched her hands, suddenly realising that I had formed many sharp spikes straight out of the dirt. They rained down on Katara's body, forcing her to defend herself immediately. The girl created shields and ran away, but even though they were weak, the precise mud clumps pinned her to the ground, forcing her to freeze and feel the intense pressure of sharp stones against her neck.
"First, you have to scare them. So much so that the enemy starts laying eggs," he said, hovering over the heavily breathing girl and holding out his hand to her, forcing her to look at him seriously. "Now, go ahead and show me how you would greet the most unwanted person in your life. But don't forget the main thing..."
The girl stood up and concentrated on my words, wanting to know what would happen next.
"You are a water mage, so look for the positive in everything. In short, treat yourself with dignity.
The dialogue continued as the training progressed, the girl putting emotion into every blow, and my words flowing sweetly into her ears, as I was skilled at composing eloquent speeches.
All the negativity towards me seemed to have disappeared, and all I had to do was let it out in an ephemeral battle.
One problem... by evening, I hadn't made much progress in the magic of dirt, let alone discovered advanced sensory perception. We studied scrolls and threw attacks at each other, but it wasn't enough. It was as if something else had to happen, something that would motivate me to develop. And knowing the cunning Anubis, he wouldn't tell me anything until I figured it out myself.
Ra-a-a*
Well, when dusk fell, there was no time to think about it, because a loud roar came from the direction of the settlement. Katara and I looked at each other and realised that this was the creature we had been warned about, so we ran back on our sand scooters. When we got there, we saw the reason why people were ready to bow down at my feet.
A giant, angry spirit resembling a Dalmatian in colour had invaded the village. Four arms grew out of its forearms, and its vicious grin was visible even to ordinary people, who quickly shut themselves in their homes, hoping for the best. In short, it was a terrifying creature, which Aang confronted by simply climbing onto a house and raising his hands.
"Stop, let's talk! I am the Avatar, the bridge between our worlds. We can just talk! All this happened in the canon. I remembered perfectly well that a fight was supposed to break out between them, in which Aang would not come out on top, but how much would change now? After all, it was clear from Aang's face alone that he had become bolder, and his abilities had increased even more.
The Dalmatian opened his mouth, gathered more strength and roared so loudly that the resulting sound wave could have even destroyed a building. I could clearly see the power used by what appeared to be a simple spirit, and I clenched my hands, realising that Aang might very well take everything at face value and die there.
"Stop!" But Aang surprised him even more when he suddenly put his hands out in front of him and struck with a sphere of compressed air, as if he had prepared it in advance. The attacks dispersed each other, and the two creatures simply hovered in place.
"Phew...
"Will he be okay?" Katara asked fearfully, before remembering my instruction about behaving properly and slowly straightening her back.
"Yes. Aphka taught him how to communicate with spirits properly.
The scene could have given anyone the creeps. Aang looked at the spirit as if it were a mischievous kitten, and it responded with a fixed grin. There was only a pitiful metre between them, but it was the young man who was in control, exerting his authority, or perhaps even the higher power that sat within him and silently gazed upon this notorious world.
"I'll say it again... I am the Avatar.
He mentioned his title as if he had no intention of giving it up to anyone, which meant that he understood his calling and what he had to hold on to. He accepted his importance to this world and the world of spirits... not bad for a start.